Guy keen to start seeing Pompey progress

Steve Wilson

Guy Whittingham will be looking to step things up this week as he beds in his new Pompey team.

The Blues boss saw his side chalk up a 4-2 win at Bognor as two entirely different Pompey teams played in each half.

But while boosting fitness was the only objective from the two friendlies so far, Whittingham is now keen to see some progress this week as he plans specific work on the playing system he will be looking to use for the new season.

Whittingham, whose Pompey side beat the Hawks 5-0 on Tuesday night, explained: ‘The first two games were all about fitness.

‘You don’t go too much into the technical or tactical side of things yet.

‘But it was about getting 45 minutes under our belts on a really hot day and putting in some good work.

‘But now we’re looking for a bit more from the next games. That is all in the planning.

‘This week we are in Colchester and that’s where we will work on a few more things tactically, with set-pieces and that sort of stuff.

‘This is a new bunch of players together.

‘We need to do some work on how we want to play, what system to play and how we will look to do it.

‘It’s important that players understand that inside out and we are ready for the first game of the season when the results really matter.’

While Pompey were not at their best in sweltering conditions at Bognor, they showed glimpses of some understanding developing between their new players.

And Whittingham was happy with the goals his side carved out.

He said: ‘I thought there were some excellent finishes in there from David Connolly, Romain Padovani and Ricky Holmes and it was a really good move for the Tom Craddock goal.

‘Their goals came from our mistakes and we weren’t so happy about that but they were not too costly.’

Whittingham expects his side to improve again when they face Braintree tomorrow and has hinted he will not use two different teams for each half.

He said: ‘We will probably be looking to take it up past 45 minutes for the next game for a few of them.

‘We wanted to get to this stage having got everyone through 45 minutes.

‘Most of them now have got two lots of 45 minutes under their belts and we will look to push that on.

‘It’s an opportunity for some good work on the training pitch and for a bit of bonding.

‘We’ve got a lot of new players and they need to get to know each other.’